In the latter nineteenth century, extraordinary changes in food and agriculture gave rise to new tensions in the ways people understood, obtained, trusted, and ate their food. This was the Era of Adulteration, and its concerns have carried forward to today: How could you tell the food you bought was the food you thought you bought? Could something manufactured still be pure? Is it okay to manipulate nature far enough to produce new foods but not so far that you question its safety and health? How do you know where the line is? And who decides? Benjamin R. Cohen uses the pure food crusades to provide a captivating window onto the origins of manufactured foods and the perceived problems they wrought. Cohen follows farmers, manufacturers, grocers, hucksters, housewives, politicians, and scientific analysts as they struggled to demarcate and patrol the ever-contingent, always contested border between purity and adulteration, and as, at the end of the nineteenth century, the very notion of

A collection of audio podcasts that convey U.S. standards and recommended practices for food safety, food handling, and food inspections that comport with regulations for which the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has oversight authority.

By the close of the Industrial Revolution, the American food supply was tainted--by frauds, fakes, and legions of new, untested chemicals--all threatening the health of consumers across the country. Based on the critically acclaimed book by Deborah Blum, it tells the story of crusading government chemist Harvey Washington Wiley, the man who led the pure food movement against the food manufacturing industry in the early years of the twentieth century, embarking upon a series of bold and controversial trials on twelve subjects--who would become known as the "Poison Squad." Wiley's experiments and tireless advocacy laid the groundwork for the United States' consumer protection laws, and ultimately the creation of the FDA.

"[This book] provides an up-to-date history and analysis of the US food safety system. [The author] pays particular attention to important but frequently overlooked elements of the system, including private audits and liability insurance. [The author] chronicles efforts dating back to the 1800s to combat widespread contamination by pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella that have become frighteningly familiar to consumers. Over time, deadly foodborne illness outbreaks caused by infected milk, poison hamburgers, and tainted spinach have spurred steady scientific and technological advances in food safety. Nevertheless, problems persist. Inadequate agency budgets restrict the reach of government regulation. Pressure from consumers to keep prices down constrains industry investments in safety. The limits of scientific knowledge leave experts unable to assess policies' effectiveness and whether measures designed to reduce contamination have actually improved public health. Outbreak offers